President Donald Trump is planning a call with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to discuss U.S. military strikes targeting the country's drug-smuggling operations, including attacks on narco boats leaving Venezuela, Axios reported Monday.
The call has no scheduled date, but the planning alone signals that covert operations inside Venezuela may not be imminent despite earlier speculation, Axios said.
"Nobody is planning to go in and shoot him or snatch him — at this point. I wouldn't say never, but that's not the plan right now," one official told Axios. "In the meantime, we're going to blow up boats shipping drugs. We're going to stop the drug trafficking."
U.S. officials say at least 83 people have been killed in 21 missile strikes targeting vessels suspected of transporting drugs under the Caribbean operation known as Operation Southern Spear.
The report comes the same day the U.S. designated the Maduro-led Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), a move that provides legal grounds for possible military action.
Officially, Southern Spear is a drug-interdiction mission. Unofficially, it's aimed at pressuring the regime in Caracas — a dynamic Axios first reported before Trump returned to office in January.
"We have covert operations, but it's not designed to kill Maduro. It's designed to stop narcotrafficking," a White House official told Axios. But "if Maduro leaves, we would not shed a tear."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Sunday continued his criticism of the administration's decision to classify the cartel as an FTO, cautioning that it risks circumventing Congress and establishing what he described as a de facto state of war.
"They are pretending as if we are at war," Paul said. "When you have war, the rules of engagement are lessened."
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio has drawn criticism for the military buildup outside Venezuela because of his dual role as national security adviser, Axios reported that the blame is misplaced.
"The hawk in Venezuela is Donald Trump, followed by [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller, followed by Marco Rubio," a third U.S. official told Axios.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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